Monday, December 31, 2012

On Saturday, we took down the tree, put away the decorations, and dusted and vacuumed ready to start the new year with everything fresh and clean. I enjoyed the time with family but now that Christmas is over, I am so done with this year. Good riddance 2012. Hello 2013. There's plenty of room for improvement!

For Christmas, my daughter and son-in-law bought me an amber and gold bracelet. My youngest son bought a black and white picture frame with three 4 x 6" openings for pictures of him and his siblings. My oldest son bought Starbucks coffee and The Power Of Why, a fabulous book by Amanda Lang. While we can conclude that he doesn't actually listen to me - VBG - since I'd told him about the book at one of our breakfasts, we can deduce that he knows me well enough to choose a book I would enjoy. In fact, it was interesting, reassuring, thrilling - insert whatever over the moon, touched my heart, word you can think of - that all my children know me so well. These are all gifts that I would have bought myself and will really enjoy, including the book in hard copy instead of e-form to read again and lend to friends.

My son-in-law has a great sense of humour. It's one of the things my daughter found attractive about him. Cleaning up the dining room after dinner one night, he strategically arranged the Christmas quiltlets in perky peaks which I left exactly that way until the next morning. They made me laugh. Leaving them in that not perfect, not the way they were supposed to be arranged way is just one of numerous examples of how I've changed over the years. For the better. With less perfection and more humour is a great approach to life... and quiltlets... and clothes.

My daughter wanted to visit a high end boutique downtown on our shopping day. It typically has edgy fashions, gorgeous jewelry, and at least one or two racks of discounted pieces. I bought a skirt. She hates it. I love it. The waist is elastic... which is good... since well dressed and comfortable go best hand-in-hand at my age - LOL.

The fabric is prepleated. Just below the hips, the pleating ends and the fabric flares outward toward the hem. This kind of fabric is figure hugging and requires smoothing lingerie. Works for me. I like the squeeze me skinny stuff and being somewhat vain is just fine with me. I see it as a necessary ingredient to enjoying fashion.

There are thirteen quirky rosettes around the hem with the lining ending just above them which may or may not have been a good idea but definitely creates some peek-a-boo moments. I am so not a ruffles and flowers kind of girl and yet I love the rosettes. They have a strutting my stuff, don't care what you think, feel about them. The regular price was $205. I bought it for $40 on sale. LOVE that.

The skirt isn't perfect. It's too long so I'll shorten it from the top and wear it with height... and tights... and some kind of make it even more quirky top. I think. I hope. I'll need to dress it down and me up which is fine because its strutting, quirky, carefree, having fun persona seemed exactly representative of how I want to approach 2013. My intention is to do the work, and not just with clothes. More about that in another posting.

Friday, December 28, 2012

We were up at 4:45 this morning to get our daughter and son-in-law to the airport on time for their obscenely early flight. It's not even noon yet and by now they have arrived, taken a cab home, picked up their car, picked up their puppy, and are most likely crashed on the couch with half the day left. One has to remain amazed by our ability to move around the world. When you live as far apart as we do, going home for Christmas wouldn't have been a yearly option a hundred years ago. It would have been a once in a lifetime trip. I'm thankful to live in the time of airplanes.

Things that were leading edge new and exciting years ago might be considered old school today... and yet... they're still fun. There's a lesson in that. Over the holidays, we pulled out the vastly out of date Nintendo and all the games and the kids - Howard included - enjoyed playing with them. I enjoyed the competition, giggling, and camaraderie.

Last night, we played Life - the board game. While I disagree with some aspects of the game - like you must get married - it's an interesting teaching tool that probably flies over the heads of most children. As you move through the game it is easy to see that the career you choose, the salary you earn, and the choices you make combined with the good and the bad that life sends your way vastly impacts the outcome. On the surface, one could conclude that a more prestigious career and a higher salary is important and yet, if you pay attention, it's possible to "win" with less. It makes you think about choices and in particular about choices around issues outside our control and especially around deeply painful, grieving ones.

Things aren't always as they seem on the surface - even with fabric. One of my packages from Howard contained two fabrics and a notion bought from Marcy Tilton. I wish I could show you the original picture from Marcy's site because the fabric is actually BLACK. A short time illustrating a blog and you know for a fact that the camera lies - which can be somewhat comforting at times - LOL. I placed this yardage on my sewing desk, next to the window, with natural light, and took the picture without a flash. Looks grey to me. It's not.

This piece is called Penelope Paisley. It's Marcy's picture and in real life the colors look exactly like they do on my screen. GORGEOUS. This fabric is currently still some available on her site. It has a beautiful hand. I'm such a sucker for paisley.

I looked and looked and looked for this notion at all the fabric stores I've visited in the last six months and couldn't find it. It may be completely out of style by the time I actually sew something with it however... since I was already asking for things from Marcy... I added it to my wish list along with...

... this legging pattern from Christine Johnson. In a recent blog posting - and at the workshop I took with her last June - Marcy indicated that this pattern is simply the best. Almost all of my patterns come from the BMV Club at significantly reduced prices and almost never from an independent pattern line because the prices and the shipping combine to equal way too much which means this pattern is a treat and that's the definition of gift giving in our house - something you want but don't really need. Now to sew some leggings - LOL.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - sewing gifts. It's nice to have support in your addiction!!!!!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

The men are downstairs playing video games. My daughter is out for coffee with a friend. This afternoon is lunch and shopping - her and I together - and tonight there's one more dinner with all of us before she and our son-in-law head home in the morning. When I stopped by the grocery store yesterday, the cashier asked about our holiday and when I said it's just perfect, all the kids are home, she said I know, mine too and we laughed at how in accord we were and how old we've become. The gifts were lovely but not as lovely as being together.

Last year, we discussed making some changes to our traditions mostly because I absolutely LOVE to spoil people and needed to calm my generosity down somewhat. One decision was to eliminate the Christmas stockings. It was hard to do so... instead... I bought an alphabet mug for each of us. There are three different fonts so far and as the family grows we should be able to find (or make) more white mugs with letters on them. I bought a few chocolates and only one gift card for each mug and there was room left which could be a problem for next year - LOL. I will begin lecturing myself now.

Another agreement was around the dollar amount spent and still another around the number of gifts - two each from Howard and I to the kids which - naturally - I interpreted to mean gifts in two packages illustrating how I still need to work on this aspect.

Our not yet huggable grandbaby received two packages as well - of course - of which one was the secret gift I was working on prior to Christmas. The bunting is made from white French terry with variegated gold stitching every width of the presser foot apart, bias cotton trim with gold flecking, and appliqued letters. The blanket is made from...

... cabbage swirl _____ - I'm not sure what the correct name for this fabric is - backed with that knobby minky _____ - another fabric I don't know the actual name of - and stitched every six inches in both directions to hold the two layers together. Around the edges is...

... shantung binding creating a tactile blanket the baby should love. The color is a rose-ish beige with a gold overtone that's hard to describe and hard to match although not too bad as beige goes. Now, we just have to teach Chloe, Ms. Drama Queen Puppy, that this blanket is not for her - LOL - it's baby's.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - celebrations and holidays from our regular routine that add depth and meaning to life.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Outside, it's softly snowing. Where my daughter lives, it's also snowing. Right now, neither amount is enough to prevent airplanes from taking off or from landing and I certainly hope it stays that way because tonight I get real hugs and I'm so looking forward to them. It's not that I don't like gifts. I do. A lot. But I have reached that stage in life where I say things like all I want for Christmas is to have everyone at home together while realizing that that - which sounds so simple - will become a harder and harder gift to receive as my children move increasingly into adulthood. Next year, grandbaby will be hugable and not so easily transportable and new traditions will begin.

This corn husk angel is twenty-two years old. It was bought when my daughter was four, in kindergarten, from a craft fair at her school. We went together and then most likely out for lunch. We did that often. The lunch part especially. I've never been much of a shopper although we have plans for lunch and shopping on the 27th and I'm looking forward to that gift too. Time with my daughter.

The presents are wrapped. We'll tuck them under the tree after everyone goes to bed tonight. This morning, Howard and I will give the house a quick clean. He'll make jello salad for tomorrow's dinner. I plan to bake some fresh butter tarts for tonight. After that, we'll sit and read and move slow and just enjoy the day. Late afternoon is church and after dinner it's to the airport. When we get home, both of our sons will be here and our daughter and our son-in-law and our not yet hugable grandbaby. We'll have coffee and a visit and then do it again in the morning with our Christmas traditions. It will all be very familiar and very wonderful, this celebration of faith and family.

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.- John 3: 16

Friday, December 21, 2012

Done is a lovely four letter word. Finished, complete, and concluded are equally meaningful synonyms. Don't you just love the emotional swing of a project. First, you can't wait to begin and then you hit the tough slugging, hating it, stage and then the nearing the end excitement and finally, you're done and if it's worked out anywhere near how you'd hoped it would work out, even better.

My friend is very fond of her cell phone. I already had the pocket measurement on my notes and knew it needed a pleat for easy slipping in and out but had to phone Wednesday night and ask if the pocket should be to the front or the back of the purse for it's ringing, quick grab it access. To the back.

Before our plans changed, we were supposed to go for lunch yesterday. We hadn't set a time. At 11:48, I was finished and phoned my friend to tell her I could have made noon in my pj's but 1:00 would have meant clothes, hair, and make-up but now with "extra" time, I intended to check out another embellishment at Fabricland. And then I hung up. And snapped the closure closed. And thought (insert nasty word) I forgot the zipper.

I really Really REALLY wanted to say zipper? what zipper? and walk away but we'd already talked about having or not having a zipper and I knew she wanted one at the top. In the end, I aligned the edge of the zipper with the bottom of the trim and used a zipper foot to stitch it in place. The stitching is about 1/8" below and doesn't really show on the front unless you know it's there. Yeah! The things you can figure out when you need to figure them out!. Sewing is so good for the brain.

This is the first time I've used premade leather handles. The leather of these ones doesn't seem to be the best of quality so I'm not sure how long they will last. I may be replacing handles which wouldn't be my favourite thing to do so in the future, I'll look for a better source. If you have one, I'd love to know what it is. Also, does anyone know if there is an (affordable) machine for putting in rivets like the ones used here? That could be handy if I decided to make my own handles.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE purse feet. They are so fun. I have two antique bronze left in stash and a bunch of silver ones so hopefully whatever purse I make next works with silver.

When I was talking about re-inventing the wheel yesterday, another part I want to think through better is the snap. I always want it under the button but that makes the button hard to sew on after the flap is made and the flap is harder to stitch if the button is sewn on first. I need some kind of snap and button system for purses with flaps... and most of mine have flaps... because they're such a great focal point.

This time, the button is glued on. The tassel is wrapped around the button and then I reached into the middle and tightened the string so it pulled up snug to the button.

The finished side. It has slightly more slouch empty than it will have once all her stuff is in it but stands quite nicely on its own. This is good.

The zipper is at the back - against the body - which I find a great place to put things I want to keep safe. On the inside, the cell pocket is against this side and opposite is a zippered interior pocket.

AND... ta da... the finished front. I really like this shape and the size - about 17"' across the top, 12" across the bottom, 5" deep, and 13" high - and the style is relatively simple to put together. This might be one to turn into a T & T.

Our plans changed again. Instead of coffee, we went for dinner last night... plus dessert... because yummy is so important. She loved the bag. YEAH ! ! ! ! ! The glued on button? It didn't work. She'll have to sew it back on. Oh well. It was worth a try.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - today is my daughter's 26th birthday. I wish she was here to spoil but luckily she'll be home on Christmas Eve which is - LOL - the day we brought her home from the hospital all those years ago. A great day. Happy Birthday Jessica.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

My son had a dentist appointment at 8:00 yesterday morning. He opted for sedation dentistry which meant someone had to drive him plus he has type 1 diabetes which meant someone had to monitor that aspect with more knowledge than the staff had. Me = someone. I spent three hours in the waiting room, mostly stitching on the purse, and then I came home and spent most of the day stitching on the purse - until 8:00 at night when I decided that twelve hours was enough and I could quit which...

... somewhat coincided with both finishing the lining and my friend calling to say she couldn't make our lunch date tomorrow. I'd been telling anyone who asked that it would take an act of God for me to be finished on time and apparently acts of God come in the shape of being asked to babysit your grandson. We've rescheduled for coffee tonight and - LOL - maybe I'll be done. We'll see.

After researching how to attach leather handles, I opted to sew by machine first and will add hand stitching with pearl cotton over top for a thicker, more finished look.

With the zipper, I reverted to the method most frequently used in my purses which is slicing across the entire length, wrapping each edge with fabric, and then top stitching the wrapped edge to the zipper. It's neat and easy. The only drawback is it creates more bulk in the seams that - depending on how the purse is structured - can be an issue although a few wacks with the hammer usually flattens things out.

Marcy Tilton is the featured artist in the spring 2005 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. In the article, she notes that it takes four to six months to complete a new pattern design. I'd recently reread the article for another purpose only that line stayed with me. I realized I'm spending too much time on each purse figuring out how to put it together even though they have similar shapes and results. It seems to me that I'd be better off developing some standardized "recipes" so my focus can be on the colors and textures and interactions. When I thought about why this happens, I think it's in part because I predominately work with a quilted surface of some sort. I enjoy creating them - particularly the layering and the threadwork - and even so perhaps it's time for me to step out of that quilted box and look at other options - in the new year - right now the purse and I are through the hating each other stage and moving toward the finish line.

The hand work was red over red stitching around each motif after outlining them in gold thread. Each step gave the motif more presence and energy. Beading would too only these are along the bottom of the bag so I'm not sure beading is necessary. We'll see when all the parts are in place.

The lining is complete and read to insert. The front is done except for the side seams. I've determined how to finish the top edge and add the zipper. This morning's focus is the flap. Once that is complete and stitched in place, I can shape the bag, add the feet and snap, insert the lining, and move to finished. YEAH.

I'm reading The View From The Studio Door by Ted Orland. At one point, he talks about how there are fewer artists in today's world and about how art making is becoming more and more about a (mostly unengaged) audience. I'd quote the actual phrase but it'd take too long to find it right now and - as you know - I'm on a deadline. It intrigued me that in three hours of sitting and stitching in a public waiting room with a large staff of predominately young - under thirty - women, not a single person inquired about what I was doing. I found that both unusual and somewhat sad. There are so many fabulous aspects to being a maker, the least of which is the finished object.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

My original plan for yesterday was to clean house only that didn't really make sense if you consider that we'll need to clean again at the end of week. Why do it twice - especially if you have a bag to finish - only instead of maximizing the "extra" time, I slept in, moved slow, and eventually got to the studio. Rather than hold you captive to the end, I'll give you warning right now that this is another cliffhanger, to be continued, part of the saga so don't get your hopes up too high although there is cause for celebration.

Coming up the walk, I noticed this footprint in the snow from a favourite pair of shoes. We don't often get to see the marks we leave behind. I'm so glad mine is beautiful. My shoes at least. Not so much my welt zipper.

When you're not making the progress you know you should be making on a project there is almost always some thing that you're procrastinating and it almost always has to do with the fear of failure, of making a mistake, of not knowing in some way. For me, it was the zipper in the welt. I'm not sure what the correct terminology is but you know what I mean. I wasn't concerned about the how to as much as the what would - what would it look like and would it be what I wanted.

In my almost forty years of sewing, I don't think I've ever sewn a welt pocket or a bound buttonhole - maybe once but if so, it was so long ago that I can't remember.

I did know to reinforce the corners with a smaller stitch and to clip right up to the stitching line and to use a drop of Fray Check in each corner just in case. I'm happy to report that the drawing and the measuring and the stitching went fine plus the zippered opening was exactly where I wanted it to be only...

... there are a few things I'd do differently next time, like not use red fabric to match the lining and not make such a wide opening and perhaps add "lips". Subtle but significant things. When I realized I was procrastinating, I asked why and then resolved that question. If the welt zipper didn't work out, what would I do to save the project? Knowing that answer - having a back-up plan - allowed me to get started and now that the welt zipper is only okay, that's where I'm going to next. Too fun! But first, lets celebrate that my first welt zipper didn't turn out too bad even if I'm going to change it - LOL.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

In this last week before Christmas comes the gift exchanges. I love this extra special time of year to say I love you to my friends and thank them for their friendship. Life is about relationships. As difficult as they can be, there is nothing more important. Not even art.

The friend I met with yesterday is - like me - an artist. She paints in both oils and acrylics. We're the same age, both married with adult children, both expecting our first grandchild. We see this time of our fifties as our time and we're eager to grow ourselves up in new and expanded directions. Her goal for 2013 is to focus on developing her art as a career by doing the work. My goal for 2013 is to completely ignore art as a career and focus on developing my everyday creativity by doing the work. We talked about doing the work.

We have a boy tree this year. Every single decoration was put on by either my husband or one of the three boys - young men - all the while grumbling about how much they hate decorating trees. When they asked, I said no, that I didn't want to put any decorations on because there would be plenty of times in the years ahead when I'd be decorating the tree alone. Instead, I made the appetizers, unwrapped the ornaments, and handed them over one by one while celebrating and appreciating their gift of doing something for me that I enjoy - decorating, being together, celebrating Christmas.

Judith wrote - I was with you all the way on this, reading along, waiting, waiting, for the finished 'zebra bag'. And then you abandon it... talk about a cliffhanger via blogging...

I'm sorry Judith. Cliffhanging never occurred to me. Too funny. I was thinking along the lines of sharing the lesson - to not get upset if your first idea doesn't work out because it's okay to completely change directions. I am ever the teacher BUT... I've kept the painted piece and will see what I can do with it in the future. There's lots of coat left to cut up and take the idea forward with. At some point, I'll have perfected my painting on leather skills to the gift giving stage. I just wasn't there yet.

The friend who is getting this bag reads my blog. She loves gifts and hates waiting. Not knowing what's inside that package darn near turns her inside out so... since she already knows she's getting a bag... I thought I'd hide some of the details so she won't know exactly what it looks like until the end. The line of satin cording separates the main body of the purse from the bottom. It's couched in place with a zigzag stitch.

This is a sample. The red bits are only okay and need more pizazz so I've been sampling different ideas. The pink pearl cotton was just to see if this idea had potential. I like the texture it adds but would need to pick up a darker - than the fabric - red to get the look I want. Maybe.

Speaking of red thread - normally I put all my thread ends into a jar and use them to make thread lace. The mix is typically of my favourites with black. I was reluctant to add red since it's not in my normal palette so I put those ends in a separate red thread bag which prompted the thought that if I separated all the thread colors, they could be played with like paint in terms of layering and mixing... especially for the bead ideas I'm working on... and the felting ones I want to try.

Skor bars are one of my favourites. I'm not sure if they are sold outside of Canada. I don't recall see them in the United States. I've been eating these for so long that I don't actually read the packaging anymore but this one was sitting on the counter the other day and caught my eye and made me laugh. It's "enrobed". How la de da pretentious!

Monday, December 17, 2012

The tree is decorated. That makes the weekend mostly successful since the tree and the bag were my weekend goals. There wasn't nearly as much progress with the bag mostly because of exploring an idea and in part because I woke up at two-thirty Sunday morning, started thinking about pocket placement possibilities, and never really got back to sleep after that. I definitely need more than four hours sleep to function. Tired does not typically lead to progress.

Thrift stores are packed with potential, much of which wants to come home with me, all of which I can't possibly use. That's why I rarely visit. Neither my budget nor my stash can handle any more potential however - a few visits ago - I bought an extra-large, calf length, raglan sleeve, leather coat... for $12.00... for the leather... because...

... I'd recently purchased Sassy Feet: Paint, Embellish and LOVE Your Shoes (and Bags)! along with an essentials kit from the Sassy.com store. On Saturday, I took apart one coat sleeve to use as the bottom of the bag. My friend's favourite print is zebra and her favourite color is red. I wanted to paint a red zebra print to match the red handles.

Real leather is prepped with acetone and synthetic leather is prepped with rubbing alcohol both of which are designed to remove any dirt and oil from the surface so the paint will stick.

Designs are marked with chalk. I drew freehand using a chalk roller. To trace a specific design, print it on paper, chalk the back, and then place the paper chalk to leather before outlining the design with a pencil. The outlining will transfer the design to the leather allowing you to paint in the spaces.

The book recommends Jacquard Lumiere acrylic paints and the kit came with a metallic russet only the color was more copper than red. I used four coats of an acrylic decor paint instead. You're advised to use a smooth, continuous movement as in applying nail polish. I recently read a headline that stated the only thing worse than chipped toe polish was no toe polish. That made me laugh because I can count on one hand the number of times I've applied nail polish. It's not my thing. I love painted nails for about a day and then I want them to get off of me right now - which means I'm not at all practiced at applying and my lines were less than lovely. It's probably fair to note that it would be easier to paint on shoes that are stretched tight into a shape than on loose leather... and especially not loose leather intended to be part of a gift.

I liked the way the white chalk outlined the shapes. After it was washed off, I tried outlining with a thin line of white paint only I couldn't paint a thin line, even with a thin line brush, and it was blotchy and uneven so I tried drawing with a gold paint pen... which ran out of ink... just about the time I decided that this - painting on leather - required more skill than I'd currently accumulated and was perhaps not yet ready for the gift giving stage, which turned out to be a good decision because....

... when I consulted my notes again, I realized that I'd been looking at the wrong number and the leather was too narrow which leaves us with red, no zebra. One out of two isn't bad. I decided she'd get red in a Myrna motif instead and - LOL - put the leather away and moved to plan B.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - that changing your mind is not a mistake, it's simply part of the process

Friday, December 14, 2012

I spent several hours yesterday morning talking art with my neighbour, a young woman who teaches print making and drawing and who has just been hired at a fabulous, art minded, already welcoming her with open arms, university in Alberta. It's an amazing opportunity for her. I'm almost jealous.

Among other things, I showed her the finished secret project and this pile of purse potential. Other than the handles, no decisions have been made. It's only possible bits and pieces for now. We'll see what actually makes it into the mix when I'm done. Soon. I hope. Along with tree decorating with the boys (young men) on Sunday afternoon, stitching the bag is my weekend priority.

I've made a surprising number of purses over the years. One of my favourite purse projects was five from the same starting point...

... a quilted table throw. In the picture above, the throw has been over dyed and cut up into equal parts plus a middle section that I can't remember what I did with.

When I'm creating an art piece, it's done one step at a time with only a minimal idea of the outcome. With this project, all I knew was that the end result would be purses. Because they had the same starting point, I was able to chose five of the first step ideas even though I had far more than five ideas. All the rest were unexplored paths. Think about that. We can have an endless list of ideas at each step of a project but we can only follow one. That may sound paralyzing and yet if you work on a project like this you'll find it's actually rather freeing because...

... for each purse there were also a myriad of second step ideas of which only one could be explored and the rest were again unexplored paths. Pick one. Do something. Get going. There is not just one right path. There are many. If you're a perfectionist in any way, that's an intriguing thought to follow up. You can only choose one idea. Numerous choices will not be explored. All choices will lead to an ending. All endings are equally valuable. There is - in fact - NOT just one right answer.

For me, that was incredibly freeing and learning that I wish had come much earlier in my life. One starting point, five journeys, five functioning purses, all beautiful, all loved by their owners, not all to my taste, and that's okay because it's the journey that teaches us so much. The process not the product.

The journey taught me not to be afraid to make choices, to enjoy seeing where those choices led, to evaluate and adjust along the way, to change my mind, to be brave, to risk. It emphasized yet once again that we learn to do by doing and that by doing, we build our skill sets and as we build our skill sets, our hands begin to flow with ease while our minds bubble with creativity. The results of our efforts improve piece by piece.

It's an evolution through which you become increasingly less product oriented and increasingly more process oriented. And it's not just in art. The learning is completely transferable to many areas of life, even fashion sewing. Later on down the line, when you're making a paint-by-number-ish pattern and it doesn't end up looking the way you had hoped it would look, you'll realize that...

... the failure would be to not take it further. See what happens. An assignment I used to give my students was to create an art piece starting with something ugly. The reaction was usually intense. You'd have thought I was asking them to commit murder but once they grasped the concept - it's already ugly, what more could I do to it - they also grasped the freedom. And that's when magic happens.

Magic that may not be the resulting product. It's quite possible that that could still be ugly. Magic is the realization that fabric is still fabric even if it's currently stitched into some shape, that the point of any journey is the learning, and that all results are success because success is finishing. Masterpieces are a bonus.

Myrna Giesbrecht

Welcome. I love to sew... and knit... and read... and talk... a lot... and I love learning especially about creativity and about life. Please feel free to comment. I love the conversation and if you need to, you can email me privately at myrna (at) myrnagiesbrecht (dot) com. If you're wondering what the header is all about, read this posting. Thanks for visiting. - Myrna

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